At a recent meeting, Franklin Board of Aldermen discussed establishing a policy that would provide criteria and a priority ranking system for the grant application process for non-profits seeking funds from the town. Aldermen came to no decision on the matter.

“There is no real rigor to it,” said Town Manager Sam Greenwood of the current grant application process, in which organizations are only required to verify that they are a non-profit along with the structure of their organization in the initial grant application form issued by the town.

With a special ribbon cutting ceremony held last Tuesday, the Macon County Airport Authority celebrated the official expansion of its airport runway.

Joined by state and local leaders, transportation officials and longtime airport supporters, Authority Chairman Milles Gregory lauded the long awaited completion of the runway expansion as a critical economic asset to the county.

“I believe this will have quite an economic impact on Macon County, but also other adjoining counties,” said Gregory. “It’s been a long time coming but we’re delighted that we’ve reached this point and it’s a milestone in the history of Macon County to have a 5,000-foot runway.”

While responding to a complaint of suspicious activity last Thursday, officers with the Franklin Police Department discovered a laboratory used for manufacturing methamphetamines at a local apartment complex.

At approximately 4:45 p.m. officer Dwayne Cabe responded to a complaint of suspicious activity at building 400 of Orchard View Apartments on Orchard View Drive in Franklin. Upon his arrival, Cabe recovered a plastic bag containing several unused syringes in the parking lot.

Two fatal single-vehicle motorcycle accidents and one non-fatal accident occurrd over the weekend. All three accidents did not involve any other vehicles and each was a result of the driver going off the road in a sharp curve and losing control.

On Sunday, June 26, around 10:24 a.m., Stephen Nashif II, 22, of Franklin was riding his 2001 Yamaha motorcycle on Old Murphy Road. Kristi Lynn Herring, 23, also of Franklin, was a passenger. According to Trooper Jeff Pruett, Nashif went off the right side of the road in a sharp curve and the motorcycle overturned and collided with a mailbox and a tree. Herring was pronounced dead on the scene and Nashif was airlifted to Mission hospital with serious injuries. As of press time he was recovering.